RoL: EAGER: DESYN-C3: A Self-evolving independent ATP battery for Pseudocells

能量是生命的必需品。 ATP是一种生物能量分子，被所有已知的生物体所使用。它在细胞内产生。该项目将制造和评估“ATP电池”的新概念，该电池将以受控和独立的方式连续生产ATP。电子电池可以为各种电子设备供电。ATP电池将为各种合成细胞功能提供能量。ATP电池将具有能量产生单元，其将供给它们的化学物质连续地转化为ATP。产生的ATP可以流向下游的合成细胞，为疫苗、治疗药物或其他有价值的产品的生产提供动力。该项目还制定了详细的教育和外联计划。它侧重于扩大高中和本科学生的研究经验和视野。 ATP是合成细胞的理想能量选择。然而，ATP的有效生产目前仅限于生物机制。创造一种可控的手段，将ATP的产生与生物过程连接起来，并以独立的方式供应ATP，即ATP电池，将支持合成细胞的发展。因此，本项目的主要目标是开发一种以连续和可控的方式产生足够ATP的装置，以驱动外部合成细胞。另一个目标是开发电池，使其能够发展以满足不同合成电池不断变化的需求。所提出的方法受到电池和细胞线粒体的启发。它建立在研究团队的专业知识和以前在DNA水凝胶和合成生物学方面的工作基础上。利用克隆的ATP合酶基因，结合3D打印和微流体技术，研究团队将建立一个独立的ATP电池，可以连续地将质子梯度转化为ATP。产生的ATP还将用于为电池本身的进化提供动力。可自我进化的特性将使拟议的ATP电池具有多功能性，使其应用范围超越合成电池。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Energy is essential for life. ATP is a biological energy molecule used by every known living organism. It is produced inside cells. This project will fabricate and evaluate the novel concept of an "ATP battery" that will continuously produce ATP in a controlled and independent manner. Electronic batteries can power a wide range of electronic devices. The ATP battery would energize a wide variety of synthetic cell functions. The ATP battery would have energy generating cells that convert chemicals fed to them into ATP continuously. The ATP generated could then flow downstream to synthetic cells, powering the production of vaccines, therapeutic drugs or other valuable products. This project also has a detailed education and outreach plan. It focuses on expanding the research experiences and horizons for high school and undergraduate students. ATP is an ideal energy choice for a synthetic cell. However, efficient production of ATP is currently limited to biological mechanisms. The creation of a controllable means to connect ATP generation to bioprocesses and supply it in a stand-alone manner, i.e. an ATP battery, would support the development of synthetic cells. Therefore, the primary goal of this project is to develop a device producing sufficient ATP in a continuous and controllable manner to drive external synthetic cells. An additional goal is to develop the battery in such a way that it can be evolved to meet the changing requirements of different synthetic cells. The proposed approach is inspired by electric batteries and cellular mitochondria. It builds on the research team's expertise and previous work on DNA hydrogels and synthetic biology. Utilizing cloned ATP synthase genes and combining 3D printing and microfluidics, the research team will build a stand-alone ATP battery that can convert a proton gradient to ATP continuously. The produced ATP will also be used to power the evolution of the battery cells themselves. The self-evolvable nature will make the proposed ATP batteries versatile, enabling applications beyond synthetic cells.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.